


Day 600

by Duke_of_Skibbington



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Ba Sing Se
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-12
Updated: 2019-01-12
Packaged: 2019-10-08 17:43:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17390786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Duke_of_Skibbington/pseuds/Duke_of_Skibbington
Summary: It is the final day of the great Siege of Ba Sing Se. The Fire Nation is on the verge of victory, the Earth Kingdom has dug in for a final bloody last-ditch defence and the tide of the war will be turned by a great personal tragedy.





	Day 600

**Author's Note:**

> “In peace, sons bury their fathers. In war, fathers bury their sons.”  
> -Croesus, King of Lydia

* * *

To my dearest family at home,

My engineers have successfully brought down the walls of Ba Sing Se and we are finally reaching the end of 

If the city is as magnificent as its wall, Ba Sing Se must be something to behold. I hope you all may see it someday, if we don't burn it to the ground first!

Until then, enjoy these gifts. For Zuko, a pearl dagger from the general who surrendered when we broke through the Outer Wall. Note the inscription and the superior craftsmanship. And for Azula, a new friend. She wears the latest fashion for Earth Kingdom girls. 

My son and I shall return soon and I look forward to reigning over a peaceful world. I will miss Earth Kingdom tea. It is my favourite.

Signed,

Iroh, Crown Prince

* * *

 

Great explosions of lightning and fire and tar and stone brought down the impregnable walls of Ba Sing Se. With the wall breached, the Fire Nation established a foothold to prevent the Earth Kingdom from rebuilding it. Night fell to prevent any further fighting. The Earth Kingdom troops had other ideas. From what Iroh had seen, the walls were just the first obstacle they had to face.

Iroh summoned Lu Ten to his command tent. His son entered and bowed before his father and his esteemed generals, who all sat around a strategic map while sipping ginseng tea. A general explained that the map was surrendered by a general. 

The generals debated strategy. “We should try to take the hill fortresses.”

“No, they’re insignificant and a distraction. We should take their valley trenches.” Another general argued.

A more timid general raised his finger and softly suggested “Perhaps we should play it safe and place our catapults on their walls, try bombarding the city into submission, perhaps burn it down.” 

Yet another general frowned “We’re short enough of supplies as it is. We can’t do something like that unless we support our army by plundering their farms. And it will starve them out.”

Iroh sipped his tea and broke up the quarrelling “Lu Ten, what do you think we should do?”

Lu Ten swallowed heavily and adjusted his collar “Errr...” he choked “father, I’ve never been good at strategy but I am superb at battle tactics.”

The other generals gave him judgemental looks. He swallowed once more and accepted a cup of tea from his father, who looked at him encouragingly. “Perhaps a more direct approach will work best. Simultaneous strikes on the weakest portions of their lines. We’ll overwhelm them with sheer numbers.”

War minister Qin scoffed “You can’t overwhelm the Earth Kingdom with numbers. You’d need an elite force to pull off something like that!”

Iroh stroked his beard “That’s enough. Lu Ten, gather your most elite soldiers. You have one day to organise your shock troopers and pull off your attack.”

Lu Ten stood up and bowed “Thank you father.” He then left the tent and went about preparing for his attack.

Gun stood on the walls of a large hill fortress. Flaming boulders crashed and smouldered all throughout the agricultural belt. Perhaps burning dry grass or falling far short of the walls. Some fell in nearby trenches and many smashed into fortress walls. Gun and his men threw earth discs at them and intercepted some of them. Some but not all, for one of them made a gaping hole in the wall. With the Fire Nation army poised to attack, the defenders rushed to repair. An easy task for Earthbenders.

Lu Ten and his shock troopers advanced on a narrow portion of a trench, throwing fierce plumes of flame at the entrenched Earthbenders. Disregarding his men, Lu Ten ordered them to assist in taking another trench and then leaped into an enemy trench and incinerated a defender with a wall of flame. A defender raised a large boulder above his head. Lu Ten tripped him and the boulder crushed the poor Earthbender. 

Lu Ten side-stepped and avoided a barrage of high-speed pebbles. He looked behind at the holes perforating the trench wall. Had they struck him, it’s doubtful his armour would have helped. He almost gasped with surprise but gritted his teeth instead, he wasn’t safe yet. With a small but precise ball of fire launched from his fingertips, he seared a hole through the defender’s neck.

The defenders fled and erected an earth barrier, blocking him from advancing through the trench. Without hesitation, he destroyed it with a lightning blast. The defenders ducked and tried to take cover from the falling debris. Another bolt of lightning killed a corporal. 

Something seemed wrong to Gun. Aside from the mass artillery bombardment, the Fire Nation had not made any moves to capitalise upon last night’s gains. Suddenly, a blue flash caught the corner of his eye. With his telescope, he observed the connecting trenches. While he couldn’t hear anything over the bombardment, he could see a brawl taking place in each trench. 

The defenders fell back in good order, throwing whatever they could at him. The Fire Prince evaded, jumped over and even kicked aside their attacks. One brave soul even tried to engage him with his swords. He was dead before he could get close.

Gun jumped over the walls and landed in a trench. His impact shook the ground. He ran through the trench, shoring up the defenders and boosted their morale. A group of Firebenders jumped into his section of the trench and shot numerous fire balls at his men. Many men fell on both sides but not Gun. He squeezed the earthen walls of his trench together, crushing three attackers. He opened up the trench and rushed to relieve his men of the slaughter.

Lu Ten’s battle stopped. The soldiers cleared away and he ceased his slaughter. Clad in iron battle armour with gold trimmings, Gun swaggered into the fray. His men were sure to give him a wide berth and they watched in both fear and with hope as they watched their best take on the unstoppable foe.

Two masters were locked in combat. Lieutenant Lu Ten, son of Iroh, crown prince of the Fire Nation; a master of offence - a truly unstoppable force - any division or battalion he engage would crumble and rout within mere moments. He was a true leader and was always first into the fray, sometimes breaking his foe before his other men had even engaged.

Opposing him was Captain Gun. Gun was a mere peasant when he enlisted in the Earth Kingdom army. He was renowned for his stalwart defence against the Fire Nation onslaught. While other armies crumbled in mere hours, those in which he served lasted days perhaps even weeks, at times, even winning battles against Iroh’s army. Just now, he had thwarted an elite attack on his trench. He was an immovable object. 

Sun Tzu, a warlord from the days before the Fire Lords said that a victorious warrior wins and then goes into battle while a defeated warrior goes into battle and seeks to win. Lu Ten and Gun both knew this and were determined to win.

The two masters eyed each other up and down. They scanned for weaknesses that would win the day. Was it that Gun’s helmet obscured his vision ever so slightly? Was Lu Ten’s exposed knee? Perhaps it was that Lu Ten relied too much on agility and speed in such a tight trench where there was scarcely any room for them to circle each other? Was it perhaps that Gun was too slow? Was it that he was too hesitant? Could it have been that Lu Ten was too brash?

True to form, the firebender made the first move. He ran up to the Earthbender who threw large rocks at him. He jumped and pushed down on the captain’s helmet and landed right behind him. Gun turned to face his agile foe but it was too late. A fireblade punctured the back of his neck and burned through. The great hero of the Earth Kingdom flopped on the ground after less than a minute of combat.

Lu Ten snapped around and fireballs raged in his clenched fists. He was ready to kill every last defender. But then he saw their faces. They were miserable and demoralised, their last hope lay dead at his feet. After short hesitation, one of them raised his arms in surrender and soon all other followed. Lu Ten climbed out of the trench and the prisoners of war came with him. He didn’t need to chain them together, none would be foolish enough to make a run for it.

He returned to his army, where his soldiers took the prisoners away. Triumphantly, he strode into his father’s tent and bowed. Iroh looked up from his reports and smiled at his son, waving them in. “My son, I take it the attack was a success. Tell me, how did the shock troopers find their first assignment?”

Lu Ten beamed with pride “I wouldn’t know, father. I got ahead of them, jumped into a trench, killed Gun and took the survivors prisoner. I hear the other trenches fell as well.”

Iroh sighed and shook his head “You shouldn’t have gone in alone, son.”

Lu Ten frowned and walked towards his dad “But I thought you’d be proud... I did it on my own... I killed Gun!”

Iroh smiled softly and placed his hand on his son’s shoulder “I am proud of you son, you did very well today. I am sure that now, it is only a matter of time before the war is over. But I do worry about you. You could get killed.”

Lu Ten laughed and brushed off Iroh’s hand “Don’t worry dad, I’m a good fighter! I will survive anything the King throws at me and then, I’ll make him bow before you.”

Iroh threw his arms around his son “I do not doubt that for a second. But please, be careful. You don’t need to win the war by yourself.” He then broke off the hug “Now are you going to help me finish this pot of tea or not?”

Firebenders scaled the walls of the fortresses. Panic ensued and the defenders routed. Lu Ten rushed from his father’s tent and propelled himself into battle. He used his firebending to jump up the wall of the biggest fortress. He rampaged through the enemy ranks. He grabbed a fleeing soldier by the head and punctured his neck with a fire blade. He threw an unlucky defender off the wall, pushed down another and stomped on his head. Lu Ten could only see red - royal red. 

The Firebenders raced to keep up with their leader and mop up the remainders. The slaughter stopped only when Lu Ten ran out of men to kill. He regrouped with his soldiers. He quickly looked around. A concerned soldier said to him “Something’s not right.”

Lu Ten nodded and said “Yes, it’s too quiet,” he quickly shifted his head around “expect a tra-” and was cut off by a sharp pain in his foot. An arrow punctured his leather boot and sheared through his achilles tendon. He tried to cry in pain but was stopped by an arrow through his neck.

Then, a group of archers in dark emerald and face-obscuring hats emerged from the shadows and loosed volleys of arrows into the hapless attackers. And the archers descended upon the bodies and lashed them to stakes and displayed them from the recaptured fortress walls.

And when Crown Prince Iroh saw his son and men hanging from the walls, he lost heart and wept bitterly.

In the night, Iroh dressed himself in beggars clothing and approached the wall where his son was hanging. He knocked on the door and begged the old general “Please let me have my son’s body. For he was my only son and I want to bury him with honour.”

The general replied “Before this war of yours, I was a father and a grandfather. Now I am neither.”

The two old men embraced and shed tears, remembering the loss of their children. The general took pity and sent Iroh off with the body of Lu Ten.And Iroh tied his son’s body to a great pyre and set it aflame as his top generals saluted and mourned their hero. Then they sang praise of him. Thus were the funeral rites of loyal son Lu Ten.


End file.
